Saturday, September 28, 2013

With $320 million of federal, state and private aid in hand,
top White House officials came to Detroit and vowed to help the bankrupt
city fight crime, improve mass transport and eradicate blight.

The money is mostly grants from federal or state programs for which
the city is qualified, or for which it needed red tape cut to speed
access. Some is expected from private businesses and philanthropy
groups. President Barack Obama also has appointed Don Graves deputy
assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, to oversee
Detroit’s recovery, said Gene Sperling, director of the National
Economic Council.

“We only have one goal, and that is to have all of Detroit working
together for one Detroit, with the Obama administration as a key
partner,” Sperling said today.

The city, once an auto-manufacturing powerhouse, declared the largest
U.S. municipal bankruptcy in history on July 18 after years of decline
in which its population fell by more than half, to 700,000 from 1.8
million. The city has more than $18 billion in long-term obligations and
is plagued by unreliable buses, broken street lights and long waits for
police and ambulances.

Sperling led a delegation that included Attorney General Eric Holder,
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. They met for more than two hours
privately with about 70 city and state officials, as well as community
leaders who included Mayor Dave Bing, a Democrat; emergency manager
Kevyn Orr and Republican Governor Rick Snyder, who appointed Orr in
March.

Civic Singularity

Asked at a press conference why it took so long for the federal
government to intervene in a city that has declined for decades,
Sperling replied, “With bankruptcy, this is an exceptional thing that
requires exceptional effort.”

The actions underscore the fine line the administration and state
officials must walk, tapping existing programs and unused or
underutilized funds, while not asking Congress for federal dollars. Top
lawmakers and administration officials have said there is no pathway for
a federal bailout of the city.

Donovan said it doesn’t matter whether the aid to Detroit is considered new or redirected money.

“A family living next to a blighted house, they don’t care whether
it’s new money or old money they never would have seen,” Donovan said.
“It’s money that will make a difference in their view.”

Heavy Lift

Sperling said another meeting is planned this year to discuss education and job training.

“We don’t expect this to be easy, but we expect this to be successful,” he said

Bing said Detroiters will see positive change in two or three years.

Some city debt rallied today. General-obligation bonds maturing in
April 2028 traded at about 94 cents on the dollar, the highest since
July 18, when the city filed for bankruptcy. The yield on the
securities, backed by Assured Guaranty Corp., is 2.23 percentage points
more than top-rated bonds, the smallest gap since July 15.

The White House will commit $150 million for demolition of blighted
properties and neighborhood redevelopment, in federal and other funds.

Empty City

Grants of $65 million and $25.4 million from public and private
sources will be used to tear down and refurbish buildings. Detroit has
almost 70,000 empty and abandoned homes and 80,000 empty lots, amounting
to 20 square miles of vacant land, about the size of Manhattan,
according to a Detroit Future City report.

The demolition money is welcome, though with a typical cost of
$10,000 to tear down each forsaken structure, much more is needed, said
John George, founder of Motor City Blight Busters Inc. His group is
working to secure and remove empty structures primarily on the northwest
side.

“We’ll take what we can get,” George said in an interview. “Blight is
like a cancer: If you don’t nip it in the bud, it spreads and kills
everything. You’ve got to start chemotherapy, if you will, especially in
the neighborhoods.”

The Obama administration also announced $3 million from the Justice
Department for additional police officers, establishing a bike patrol
and supporting youth anti-violence programs. The Federal Emergency
Management Agency will expedite access to $25 million to hire 150
firefighters and to buy equipment.

First Step

Police take an average of 58 minutes to respond to priority calls,
compared with a national average of 11 minutes, Orr said in a June
report. The department’s roster has shrunk by 40 percent since 2003, he
said.

“The only way to rebuild the city is to provide a safe environment
for residents and businesses,” said Mark Diaz, president of the Detroit
Police Officers Association. “We need a lot of work. It’s going to take
more than one gesture, but we’re excited about the recognition by the
White House.”

The Obama administration will deploy almost $140 million in transit
funding, by ensuring access to more than $100 million in Transportation
Department grants, including $24 million for bus repairs and security
cameras, according to the announcement. Another $25 million in grants
will be made available to help a streetcar project.

“These are funds that are greatly appreciated,” said Megan Owens,
executive director of Transit Riders United, a Detroit-based nonprofit
organization. Typically, one of every six buses is off the road for
repairs, Owens said.

“It results in extremely overcrowded buses, people left at bus
stops,” she said. “In recent months it feels like it’s getting worse.”

Riots, Tribalization Fuel Islamic Rise

India-Jammu and Kashmir State: Twelve persons, including a Lieutenant
Colonel, died in two militant attacks on police and Army formations in
two southern districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jammu-Kathua range, Shakeel Beg
told the press that four men of the J&K police, three Army
personnel, including the second-in-command of 16 Cavalry Regiment, and
two civilians were killed. Security forces killed the three militants
in gunfights. Four helicopters and some tanks were for the first time
used in the manhunt.

Indian press reported that the three unidentified militants in combat
military uniforms are believed to have infiltrated from Pakistan across
through the international border into the Hiranagar area on Tuesday
north of Jammu city. The two gunfights happened close to the
international border between India and Pakistan.

Comment: One news service reported that only two suicide attacks
have occurred in the Jammu area in the past ten years. One in 2008
killed four people. The second in 2002 killed 32 people and is
considered one of the most serious attacks on record in the state.

Indian analysts judge that the two attacks were aimed at disrupting
the peace process between India and Pakistan. What is distinctive about
the attacks is that the attackers infiltrated across the international
border, far south of the normal operating areas along the Line of
Control to take advantage of the laxer security conditions.

The attackers also managed to get through the extensive and in-depth
fences that India has built along the border. They had to have had
assistance on both sides of the international border to infiltrate
undetected This attack will reinforce hardline Indian nationalists in
their conviction that the Pakistanis cannot be trusted to control their
side of the border.

Kenya: Update. Al-Shabaab gunmen attacked a Kenyan police compound
near the Somali border and a market in the southern Kenyan town of
Wajir, leaving 3 dead and 7 wounded.

Comment: Kenya analysts report that cross border attacks are
common. This received attention mainly because it occurred so soon
after the mall attack in Nairobi. Both shooting incidents were drive by
primitive attacks.

Sudan: At least 29 people have been killed in three days of rioting in
Khartoum, Omdurman and other towns. Sudan's access to the internet was
almost completely cut off. Cars, shops, gas stations and banks were
burned. The government called out army units to restore order on
Thursday.

The rioting began on Sunday when the government began to implement its
decision to end fuel subsidies as part of its austerity program. A
near immediate doubling of fuel prices has led to higher prices of
flour, cooking oil and food.

The riots quickly turned political, resulting in calls for the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir.

Comment: The progression from rioting over economic grievances to
political challenges follows the pattern of all the states that
experienced the so-called Arab spring. Riots almost always follow the
lifting of subsidies. Governments that pursue austerity measures
without careful planning tend to bring themselves down.

Bashir is not vulnerable to overthrow at this point. The main reasons
are that the security forces remain responsive and the rioters only
challenge civil order, not political authority. But that can change
under severe economic stress.

Nouri Mohammad al-Qouizi was named as the president of the province,
according to Libyan media reports. Local tribal leaders said a military
chief would later be appointed to protect the region's borders and its
natural resources.

The tribal leaders said they took the decision because of the "weak
performance of the General National Congress and the lack of response to
the demands of the Libyan people in Fezzan."

Comment: This is the second region of Libya to declare itself an
autonomous federal province. Cyrenaica, whose capital is Benghazi, did
it last month. The declarations make the northwest region, known as
Tripolitania, de facto an autonomous province.

Libya has fragmented, similar to but not quite as finally as Somalia.
Fragmentation increases the risk that lslamic militants will be able to
establish bases because large regions will be ungoverned.

Obama's Power and its Limitations

US President Barack Obama's rapidly changing positions on Syria have produced many odd spectacles.

One of odder ones was the sight of hundreds of lobbyists from the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee fanning out on Capitol Hill to
lobby members of the House and Senate to support Obama's plan to launch
what Secretary of State John Kerry called "unbelievably small" air
strikes against empty regime controlled buildings in Syria.

AIPAC officials claimed they were doing this because the air strikes would help Israel.

But this claim was easily undone. Obama and Kerry insisted nothing
the US would do would have any impact on the outcome of the Syrian civil
war. This was supposed to be the strikes' selling point.

But by
launching worthless strikes, Obama was poised to wreck America's
deterrent posture, transforming the world's superpower into an
international joke.

Israel's deterrence relies in no small measure on its strategic alliance with the US.

Once the US is no longer feared, a key part of Israeli deterrence is removed.

Obama did not announce his intention to bomb empty buildings in Syria
in order to impact the deterrent posture of either the US or Israel. He
probably gave them little thought. The only one who stood to gain from
those strikes - aside from Syrian President Bashar Assad who would earn
bragging rights for standing down the US military - was Obama himself.

Obama wanted to launch the unbelievably small strikes to prove that
he wasn't lying when he said that Syria would cross a red line if it
used chemical weapons.

So if the strikes were going to harm the US and Israel, why did AIPAC
dispatch its lobbyists to Capitol Hill to lobby in favor of them?

Because Obama made them.

Obama ordered AIPAC to go to Capitol Hill to lobby for the Syria
strikes. He did so knowing that its involvement would weaken public
support for AIPAC and Israel. Both would be widely perceived as pushing
the US to send military forces into harm's way to defend Israel.

Then, with hundreds of AIPAC lobbyist racing from one Congressional
office to the next, Obama left them in a lurch. He announced he was
cutting a deal with Russia and had decided not to attack Syria after
all.

What did AIPAC get for its self-defeating efforts on Obama's behalf?

Obama is now courting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the hopes
of making a deal that Iran will use as cover for completing its nuclear
weapons program. Such a deal may well involve ending sanctions on Iran's
oil exports and its central bank - sanctions that AIPAC expended years
of effort getting Congress to pass.

And that's not all. Monday, as Obama meets with Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly in New York, Vice
President Joe Biden will become the highest ranking administration
official to date to address the J Street conference.

J Street was formed in order to weaken AIPAC, and force it to the
left. Sending Biden to headline at the J Street conference is an act of
aggression against AIPAC. It also signals that Obama remains committed
to strengthening the anti-Israel voices at the margins of the American
Jewish community at the expense of the pro- Israel majority.

The question is why is AIPAC cooperating with Obama as he abuses it? Why didn't they just say no?

Because they couldn't.

AIPAC is not strong enough to stand up to the president of the United States, particularly one as hostile as Obama.

Not only would it have suffered direct retaliation for its refusal,
Obama would have also punished Israel for its friend's recalcitrance.

In a recent interview with The Times of Israel, Eitan Haber, late
prime minister Yitzhak Rabin's closest aide, made the case that Israel
is powerless in the face of White House pressure. Haber claimed that
only when a person becomes prime minister does he understand "to what
extent the State of Israel is dependent on America. For absolutely
everything... we are dependent on America."

Haber noted that the US can collapse every aspect of Israel. From
this he concluded that no Israeli leader can stand up to Washington.

Haber recalled a menacing conversation Rabin had with then-US
secretary of state James Baker during which Baker became angry at Rabin.

"America is right even when it is wrong," Baker admonished the Israeli leader.

Haber warned that Israel cannot stand up to the US even when the US
is behaving in a manner that endangers Israel. "It's possible that they
don't understand the region and that they are naïve and stupid," he
said, "But they are America."

Haber was right that that the White House can destroy Israel's
economy, defenses and diplomatic position any time it wishes. In the
past administration threats of economic sanctions or delays in sending
spare parts for weapons platforms have been sufficient to make Israeli
leaders fall into line.

For the past five and a half years Obama has dangled US diplomatic
support at the UN Security Council over Israel's head like the Sword of
Damocles.

Obama forced Netanyahu to make concession after concession to secure
his veto of the PLO's request that the UN Security Council accept
"Palestine" as a member state two years ago. Netanyahu's sudden support
for Palestinian statehood and his 10- month long freeze on Jewish
property rights in Judea and Samaria were the most public concessions he
was forced to cough up.

The timing of the EU announcement that it was barring EU entities
from forging ties with Israelis that operate beyond the 1949 armistice
lines was revealing in this context. The EU announced its economic
sanctions the day Kerry announced the start of negotiations between
Israel and the PLO.

The message to Israel was absolutely clear: Do what
we order you to or you will face economic sanctions far more damaging.

After all, who are the real terrorists, as far as Barack Obama is concerned?

"It's a three-decade first: Presidents of U.S., Iran talk directly, if only by phone," by Chelsea J. Carter for CNN, September 27:

(CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone
Friday with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani -- the first direct
conversation between leaders in Washington and Tehran since 1979 --
raising the possibility a deal can be reached over Iran's controversial
nuclear program.

Describing the conversation as a starting point, Obama said he
believes an agreement is possible regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions
that could lead to better relations.

"While there will surely be important obstacles to moving forward and
success is by no means guaranteed, I believe we can reach a
comprehensive solution," Obama told reporters during a White House
briefing.

Western leaders have expressed cautious optimism about Iran's more
moderate tone under Rouhani, whose recent comments have raised hopes
that a deal could be struckover the Middle Eastern nation's nuclear
program.

Obama said he reiterated to Rouhani statements he made earlier in the
week during the United Nations General Assembly, where he signaled the
United States was open to negotiations with Iran provided real action is
taken.

"So the test will be meaningful, transparent, and verifiable actions,
which can also bring relief from the comprehensive international
sanctions that are currently in place," he said Friday.

The conversation between the two men came at the end of the General
Assembly, where conjecture abounded over whether Obama and Rouhani would
meet in person and what that might mean for U.S.-Iranian relations.

Rouhani told reporters Friday that there wasn't enough time to plan such a face-to-face meeting.

The last time a U.S. president spoke with an Iranian leader was in
1979, when Jimmy Carter talked by telephone with Shah Mohammed Reza
Pahlavi before Pahlavi was overthrown.

National Security Advisor Susan Rice told CNN's Fareed Zakaria that the administration was contacted by the Iranian delegation.

"Today, somewhat surprisingly, we were contacted by them to say that
President Rouhani would like to speak to President Obama on the
telephone on his way out of town, and we were able to make that call
come together and it was a constructive conversation," she said.

Thank you Senator Ted Cruz for helping we true Conservative
Republicans in our efforts to weed out the RINOS in both the House and
Senate.

Yesterday, after last week’s 21-hour ‘non-filibuster’ filibuster by
Texas Senator Ted Cruz…with a little help from his friends Senators Mike
Lee, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul…the Senate reached a vote on the
Republicans efforts to avoid a shutdown of the government and to defund
the dreaded monstrosity known as ObamaCare.

Sadly, our side lost as 23 RINOS sided with the Democrats,
and in a vote of 79 to 19 invoked cloture and formally ended debate on
H.J. Res 59 (Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014), and helped
put into place the funding mechanism to destroy America’s health care
system, America’s jobs market, and according to leading economists...one-sixth of
the American economy.

As Senator Marco Rubio said after the vote, “Today, we had an
important opportunity to stand with America’s working class and defund
ObamaCare before it continues to hurt people even more. That did not
happen. I will continue to fight to stop ObamaCare in its entirety and
replace it with an alternative that truly gives Americans more
affordable high-quality health care options without hurting their jobs,
incomes and current health plans they are happy with."

And hopefully, he will get all our support in that.

So back to the House the bill now goes and there will be a fight…a
BIG fight…as Republican lawmakers in the House must pass a bill…any
bill…and send it back to the Senate. However, they have said time and
time again that ObamaCare is a disaster for the middle class, and that
they will NOT pass any bill that funds it…and remember that funding
comes from the House. So by vowing to reject the restoration of funding,
the Republicans may instead decide to send the bill back to the Senate
again with more changes. But with a government shutdown hanging in the
balance House leaders have NOT yet decided exactly how they will
proceed.

But as our hero Senator Ted Cruz said, when the bill returns to the Senate,
“I hope that all 46 Republicans are united against ObamaCare and
standing with the American people.”

Unfortunately for 'We
the People' with the now exposed for all to see RINOS in the
Senate...led by the likes of John McCain and Lindsey Graham...that will
probably NOT happen.

And at the heart of yesterday’s
vote...of yesterday's betrayal...is the procedure known as
‘cloture’… the only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a
time limit on consideration of a bill, thereby overcoming a filibuster
and forcing a vote. However, that only works in the Senate NOT for the
House and some in
the House have already hinted about a filibuster when the bill comes
back
to them.

But with that comes Barack HUSSEIN Obama's threat that if the House does NOT pass the
Senate bill as is that the government will shut down early next week.
In a televised statement from the White House after the Senate vote,
Obama accused the Republicans of “political grandstanding” and said the
GOP-controlled House now has the fate of a potential government shutdown
in its hands.

Oh how that man loves to blame everybody but where the true blame belongs…with himself.

Bloviating that he will NOT negotiate with Republicans (but he will negotiate with Iranian terrorists) over the debt
ceiling increase because he’s heard that a few Republicans have alluded
that they might now tie the defunding of ObamaCare to the
debt ceiling debate, Obama acts once again like a spoiled child stamping
his feet as he whined, “My message to Congress is this: do not shut
down the government, do not shut down the economy, pay our bills on
time.”

Do NOT do this…do NOT do that…Obama does NOT understand that NO one
takes his threats seriously…NOT after his ‘red lines’ fiasco, and
Vladimir Putin proving himself to be more of a leader than he is.

And NO matter his bloviations Obama does NOT get that we could
pay our bills on time if he had bothered to learn Economics 101…do NOT
spend more than you take in…if he understood that the government
being shut down is NO biggie as it’s been shut down many times before…if
he accepted as fact that our economy would be so much better if he had
even an inkling of how to run the ‘business’ of government…if he would
admit that he has NO idea how to create jobs and put Americans (legal Americans)
back to work…and if he and
those who orbit around him would accept the fact that one being a ‘community
organizer’ does NOT make for a successful president.

So in
lieu of yesterday's vote the bottom line is this…more than half (57%)
of the country wants nothing to do with
ObamaCare and do NOT want it forced down their throats…more than half
the country says NO to raising the debt ceiling...more than half the
country knows that by Congress exempting itself from ObamaCare that in
and of itself is an admission of how bad it is, and that 'We the People'
will be the ones footing the bill for
their private health care with our taxpayer dollars and they could care
less.

And
the 23 RINOS who voted ‘YES’ on cloture are now exposed for all to see
for they knew
full well that a vote to invoke cloture was indeed a vote for ObamaCare,
and they knew full well that a 'YES' vote would allow ObamaCare to grow
and thrive at the expense of the middle class who are
hurting enough under this miserable excuse of a president and his
equally miserable administration... and they voted for cloture anyway.

So
again many thanks to America's new shining star, Senator Ted Cruz, for
standing strong against 'Prince' Harry Reid who wished he would have
just shut-up and gone away, and to the 19 Republican Senators who were
strong of conviction and courageous enough to join him and vote the will
of their constituents…to vote on behalf
of ‘We the People’…to vote 'NO' on a bill that is NOTHING but a
nightmare
come to life...and let the 23 RINOS who did NOT know that they will hear
our voices loud and clear come their re-election day…a day that can’t
come soon enough for me.

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The Patriot Factor

I am an American Patriot...part of the grassroots movement of bloggers spreading the truth the media will not. I am also co-host with Craig Andresen of RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on RSP Radio at: https://streamingv2.shoutcast.com/right-side-patriots